Sunday, May 12, 2013

Guest Blogger: Next year's class list

It is time again to determine a list of students that will
move from one grade level to the next. Sometimes school administrators ask the
classroom teacher to recommend which students in their class should remain
together in a learning community and which students should be separated; and
who would know best besides the classroom teacher? Is it appropriate to make
face value judgments about a student’s future learning environment?

How would you choose to participate in such a process if you
were asked to make recommendations regarding the students at your grade level
or in your program?Would you select out
the students labeled as special education (EB/D, LD, gifted, etc.), those
preforming below grade level in reading and math, having attendance concerns, or
of different ethnicities, races, and so on. Or would you choose a more
equitable method to utilize a random selection for the students? As a teacher
beginning the initial stages of practice what shall your options be?

Dr.
Belinda Williams(1996) led the Research for Better Schools
Project that developed the Urban Learner Framework. The
framework is an initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Education's
Regional Education Laboratory and focuses on recognizing and using the special
competencies (strengths) that urban children bring to the classroom. The Urban Learner Framework underscores four assumptions that present a
positive characterization of learners as capable, motivated, and able to build
on cultural strengths. This educational philosophy (way of thinking) reverses
negative labeling of students such as lacking ability, culturally deprived,
unmotivated, and at-risk.

Holding a positive asset charged attitude and
belief system that is mirrored by teaching style and pedagogy makes the task of
creating next year’s class list easy to discern. Dr. Williams would advise us
to simply place all of the student’s names in a hat and by lottery determine
the two or three classroom assignments as necessary. After completing a lottery
style or random selection of students for the next grade level, if in fact the
class lists still were to need modification for the purpose of equity it might
go something like this:first and last
check for gender.